Our future and what needs to happen

We have access to warm, safe and affordable housing that meets our needs and enables us to make choices about where we go to school or work and to fully participate as members of our families, whānau and communities.

We can get from one place to another easily and safely, for example from home to school, work or to a friend’s house. We can also access all public buildings, spaces and facilities with dignity and on an equal basis with others.

We feel safe taking public transport to get around and are treated well when we do so. Our needs are also appropriately considered when planning for new transport services. Private transport services are responsive to and inclusive of us. For those of us who need it, there is access to specific transport options that are affordable, readily available and easy to use.

Information and communications are easy for us to access in formats and languages that are right for us, including in our country’s official languages of Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. This helps us to be independent because we do not have to rely on other people. We use technology on the same basis as everyone else; those of us who need specific technology solutions will have access to these in a way that is innovative, progressive and helps to eliminate barriers. The evolving opportunities presented by new technology helps us to achieve our goals.

Our accessible communities are free of barriers (for example, access to shops, banks, entertainment, churches, parks, and so on), which enables us to participate and contribute on an equal basis with non-disabled people.

What this means:

Disabled people are consulted on and actively involved in the development and implementation of legislation and policies concerning housing (home ownership, social housing and private rentals), transport (public and private), public buildings and spaces and information, communication and technology.

Universal design is understood, recognised and widely used.

All professionals involved in accessibility have a good understanding of the principles of universal design and the needs of disabled people and take these into account in their work.

We enjoy and are fully included in artistic, cultural, sporting and recreation events whether as spectators or as performers.

Decision-making on issues regarding housing, transport, public buildings and spaces and information, communication and technology is informed by robust data and evidence.

Progress update to November 2017

Action Milestones:

Develop a positive statement for CEs to sign up to about what we want to achieve (September 2016) [on-going, original timeframes pushed back by 8 months]

CEs Disability Forum signed off the Accessibility Statement in June 2017.

Following CE support, engage with stakeholders on 14 November 2017

Meet with our DPO and agency stakeholders to discuss:

the case for change, including the priorities DPOs have identified

current practices to meet their obligations and how they would rate themselves

accessibility tools/resources they use or have tried to use

their successes and frustrations with current resources

additional support they may need to improve the reach of their communications.

Complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources [date TBC]

Assess which tools make it easy for agencies to meet their obligations and produce accessible information, highlight these tools as 'the ones' to use.

Develop a package of resources and include it in the Lead Toolkit [date TBC]

Develop a package of accessibility resources for communications’ teams to use. These guidelines should be incorporated into business as usual over time.

Host a ‘best practice’ workshop involving government and non-government stakeholders and include the package in the Lead Toolkit.

Follow up with agencies and DPOs [date TBC]

Continue to follow up with agencies to see how they are incorporating the tools into their communications.

Seek feedback from DPOs to see whether they notice changes overtime.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development

DPOs lead: Blind Citizens

Scope of action

The revised scope of this action was approved by the governance meeting of the Chief Executives' Group on Disability Issues and Disabled People's Organisations on 19 August 2016.

Lead: Ministry of Social Development and DPOs.

1 The purpose of this work is to improve disabled people’s access to government information

The purpose of this work is to improve disabled New Zealanders access to information provided by government agencies for the public. It also aims to provide disabled people with a consistent experience when accessing information.

By working with other agencies and stakeholders we will be seeking to develop a shared understanding and commitment to producing accessible communications, as government expects its information to be accessible and useable by as much of the public as possible.

We will identify and provide clear, practical advice to support agencies to meet minimum accessibility requirements for all their communications with the public. This includes identifying the types of communications products that need to be accessible.

2 We will involve our Working Group and Stakeholders

Government agencies: the Ministries of Health, Social Development, Culture and Heritage, and the Department of Internal Affairs.

We will also involve other stakeholders, including:

The State Services Commission, MBIE and DPMC

Local Government New Zealand

Office for Seniors

Blind Foundation

National Foundation for the Deaf

Age Concern New Zealand.

3 The Senior Officials Group and DPOs will oversee this project

Governance and oversight of this project will be provided by the Senior Officials Group on Disability Issues and Disabled People’s Organisations.

4 Consistently accessible information is the desired outcome of this work

We are seeking to deliver the following:

Disabled people consistently experience improved access to government information produced for the public

Government agencies understand that the information they produce for the public is required to be accessible to as many people as possible

Government agencies know where to find the tools and supports they need to build their capacity and ensure their communications are accessible to a wide audience.

5 What is included in the scope of this project

To achieve the desired outcomes, we have identified the following key phases to this work.

Engage with our stakeholders to get their buy in

Work with DPOs to develop a common accessibility statement for the CEs Group on Disability Issues to sign up to.

Following CE agreement, engage with key stakeholders to get them on board. We have extended our list to include SSC, MBIE and DPMC (with its emergency management hat on). When we meet with agencies and DPOs we will discuss:

the case for change and the priorities identified by DPOs

their understanding of their obligations

current practices when it comes to making communications accessible – how would they rate their performance?

any tools/resources they may be using or aware of and what works and doesn’t work

additional support they may need to deliver more accessible communications.

Work with DPOs and government agencies to identify common problems and priorities for change

Identifying common accessibility problems experienced by disabled people, including the types of communication products that need to be accessible. This will help us to build our case for change when we engage with agencies.

Working with DPOs and agencies to identify key priorities for change. Which changes would make the biggest difference for disabled people? If we are able to identify priorities to be our first cabs off the rank, what would they be?

Working with agencies to understand whether they have an accessibility policy, understand their obligations, and what they are currently doing to make their communications accessible to as many people as possible. Identifying where might they need further support and any barriers/frustrations that make it difficult for them to be accessible.

During this phase it would be useful to know which agencies/organisations are considered by DPOs to be exemplars and champions of accessible information.

Find out what accessibility resources and tools already exist

A stocktake of existing tools/resources available to agencies and publishing houses. When we engage with agencies, it would be useful to know whether they use these tools, and if not, why not?

We will also link in with the NZ Sign Language Advisory Board, which has a priority on promoting greater use of NZ Sign Language; and the work on Better Public Service Result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.

Develop a package of practical resources and discuss it with stakeholders

Develop/collate a package of accessibility guidelines and support tools for communications’ teams to discuss and use.

The shape of the package will depend on the existing tools and any gaps we identify.

Potential to host a ‘best practice’ workshop involving government and non-government stakeholders, particularly those who work in communications teams. This would be an opportunity to share excellence in this area, but also to look at how making your information accessible should be business as usual.

These stakeholder discussions would include targeting your audience and using appropriate communications products to reach as many people as possible.

Add the guidelines/tools to the Lead Toolkit.

6 Follow up with agencies and DPOs

Follow up with agencies after the launch of accessible communications package/workshop to find out what changes they are making, or how useful they find the package/champion examples of best practice

Check in with DPOs to see whether disabled people are noticing a difference.

New funding and NGOs are not within the scope of this project

New funding for the production of accessible communications products is outside the scope of this project, as it should be business as usual.

Communications products produced by non-government organisations, that receive funding from government, are not within the scope of this project. However NGOs will be encouraged to use any of the resources developed in order to better meet their public service obligations to disabled people.

7 Reporting and key milestones

The key milestones for this project are outlined beneath each of the phases of work.

Develop a positive statement for CEs to sign up to about what we want to achieve

Work with DPOs to develop a positive statement about what we want to achieve and why it is important. This statement will also reference existing public sector obligations on accessible information. At their next scheduled meeting in September, we will ask the CE’s group on Disability Issues to support and sign a ‘common accessibility’ statement.

Following CE support, engage with stakeholders

Once we have the support of the CE’s group, we (MSD and DPO reps) will begin meeting with our stakeholders.

Meeting pre-work for agencies: Prior to meeting we will ask agencies to complete a template to record relevant information, e.g. their understanding of their obligations, whether they have an accessibility policy, the communications tools they have used, as well as any successes or difficulties they have experienced.

Meeting pre-work for DPOs: before we meet with agencies we will ask DPOs to identify:

current practices to meet their obligations and how they would rate themselves

accessibility tools/resources they are aware of and use or have tried to use

their successes and frustrations with current resources

additional support they may need to improve the reach of their communications.

Complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources

After we have met with agencies and DPOs we will complete a stocktake of existing accessibility resources.

Following the stocktake, we will assess which tools make it easy for agencies to meet their obligations and produce accessible information, highlighting these tools as ‘the ones’ to use.

Develop a package of resources and include it in the Lead Toolkit

Following the stocktake, we will have developed a package of accessibility resources for communications’ teams to use to make government information more accessible. These guidelines should be incorporated into business as usual over time.

We will host a ‘best practice’ workshop involving government and non-government stakeholders, particularly those working in communications teams, and include the package in the Lead Toolkit.

Follow up with agencies and DPOs

We will continue to follow up with agencies to see how they are incorporating the accessibility tools into their communications. We will also seek feedback from DPOs to see whether they notice changes overtime.

This check in process will be an opportunity for us to see what is working and what we might need to change.

8 Resources to inform this work

Is there any research or information (whether qualitative or quantitative) informing this action?

United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2014. “General comment number 2 (2014) Article 9: Accessibility”.

10 Related work

Is there any other work in the Disability Action Plan 2014-2018 that this action relates to or which contributes to this action? None.

Is there any other work (outside of the Disability Action Plan) that this action connects with or which contributes to this action? Better Public Service result 10: New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.

On this page

Progress update to November 2017

Status: On track - Green

Scope approved and work underway.

Action Milestones:

Scope approved [complete]

The scope was agreed with agreed with agencies and DPOs.

Draft synthesis piece (July 2017) [on-going]

The draft synthesis report was circulated to agencies for review in July 2017. Feedback from agencies has been incorporated into the report and work to finalise the report will progress upon completion of the research survey.

Research Survey (February 2018) [on-track]

ACC is working with the DPO Coalition, an external research provider, and partner agencies to develop a survey. The purpose of the survey is to understand the types of technology disabled people use and their views on funding frameworks and access pathways.

Once the survey questionnaire has been finalised (in consultation with the DPO Coalition), the survey will take place in November/December 2017 with the final report completed by February 2018.

On this page

Progress update to November 2017

Progress has been made across three of the five recommendations with others on track to meet milestones and timeframes.

Action Milestones:

Recommendation 1- Consider issues of access to public transport, including for those with a disability, when developing the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) 2018-2021 [completed]

Ministry of Transport: The Government Policy Statement (GPS) team have engaged with DPOs regarding the draft GPS.

Recommendation 2 - Further develop the Transport Agency's Guidelines for public transport infrastructure and facilities to provide best practice guidance on the provision of information and signage for public transport [on-going]

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA): This recommendation required linking disability groups directly with Councils, a direct channel for this is yet to be established.

Recommedation 3- Investigate how the training of bus drivers can better guide them in interacting and assissting passengers, including how the guidance specifically related to those with impairments and disabilities can be further developed [on-going]

NZTA: Contact has been made with:

Auckland Transport (AT)

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) and

the Bus and Coach Association on training incentives.

GWRC have indication that it has engaged with CPO representatives on what should be included in relation to driver training for people with a disability in new contracts that will come into force in 2018. We are currently waiting on response from Auckland Transport.

Recommendation 4 - Investigate how many councils have formally adopted and incorporated into their codes of practice the Transport Agency's Pedestrian planning and design guide and the road and traffic standards for facilities for blind and vision impaired pedestrians (RTS 14) [on-going]

NZTA: This recommendation required linking disability groups directly with Councils, a direct channel for this is yet to be established.

Recommendation 5- Investigate what data is already available reguarding the trips made on public transport by those with a disability and look at how we can use this more effectively to measure people's accessibility [unknown]

Ministry of Transport.

Disability Data Evidence Working Group- the Ministry is closely involved in the ODI led work on the stock take of data across Government and sit on the Disability Data Evidence Working Group.

The Household Travel Survey - National level results from the Household Travel Survey, which has included accessibility questions since 2015, should be available from mid-2017.

Progress update to November 2017

Status: Major risks to achieving milestones - Red

Delayed and being re-planned within MBIE

Milestones dates need to be updated and agreed with DPOs. This will take place after internal MBIE discussions on milestones have occured in November 2017. A new management team came on board in October and will have a formal briefing and discussion the week of 20 November. MBIE will report results of this to ODI and Blind Citizens soon after.

Action Milestones:

Key messages agreed with DPOs November 2016 [completed]

Implementation Plan to be finalised [unknown]

Draft Guidance Document completion [unknown]

Draft Guidance Document consulted on with DPO Advisory Group [unknown]

Guidelines for building designers and officials [unknown]

Sector awareness campaign [unknown]

Scope of action

1 Context: brief background, what is this action intended to achieve?

The Accessibility Plan: Public Buildings is a programme of work to achieve the intended goal of Equitable access to and use of publicly accessible buildings by all New Zealanders.

The plan arose out of a review into the effectiveness of legislation for accessibility of public buildings. The review was jointly commissioned by the Office of Disability Issues (ODI) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in late 2013. It was developed with input from an external Access Reference Group that was established to provide advice during the review.

The plan is structured around the four separate phases of building design, consent, construction, and occupation.

The first steps in implementing the plan is to review the problems and difficulties with achieving accessibility, develop and categorise actions to address the problems, then identify the expected outcomes of the actions and their impacts.

The review of the effectiveness of New Zealand building legislation for accessibility to public buildings concluded that problems largely arise from lack of understanding by property owners, developers, building designers, and building managers, about the need for accessibility and the needs of people with disabilities with respect to building accessibility. The plan is intended to provide information and experiences which will improve the levels of understanding among those who own, design, build and manage public facilities.

This is an action which is new to the Plan, but based on a prior mandate from the joint Ministry Review into the Effectiveness of New Zealand Legislation for Accessibility of Public Buildings.

2 Proposed scope

The purpose of this action is to provide building owners, designers, consenting authorities and managers with information, understanding and skills to fully comply with the requirements of the Building Act with the intention of achieving Equitable access to and use of publicly accessible buildings by all New Zealanders.

Included in the scope of this action are:

Development of general guidance material on accessible public buildings

Development and implementation of a plan to promote guidance on accessible public buildings

Development of guidance for building owners and developers on their obligations to provide accessible public buildings

Development of effective media messages on building accessibility for public information.

Development of guidelines on accessibility for building designers and consenting officials. These will include clarification of legal requirements on accessibility.

Development of design solutions for accessibility, including using standards and acceptable solutions to the Building Code.

Upskill designers and building officials through seminars and hosting on-line chat rooms.

Development and implementation of curriculum models for architecture and design schools and for architects’ continuing professional development modules.

Strengthening enforcement of compliance, developing confidence in building officials. Developing and implementing agreed sanctions for non-compliance.

Using media to raise consumer awareness of human rights for universal access.

Strengthening the regulatory system with up-dated and rationalised acceptable solutions to the Building Code. Updating the Building Code performance.

Excluded from the scope of this action are revisions to the Building Act and the Building Code. Technical updates to relevant Building Code clauses and their Acceptable Solutions will be included with guidance publications.

Implementation of the plan is scheduled for completion by 30 June 2018.

Draft outline for guidance - 31 August 2016

Plan to promote guidance - 31 October 2016

Education programme for building owners and developers - 30 June 2017

Education programme for building designers and officials - 30 June 2017

Programme for upskilling designers and officials - 30 September 2017

Strengthening enforcement and compliance - 31 March 2018

Strengthening the regulatory system - 30 June 2018

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment will provide in-house building design and technical advice relating to the Building Act and the Building Code, in-house development of communications documents and programmes, briefing and commissioning of media and publications agencies.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is the lead agency for the project. Governance is shared with the Office of Disability Issues.

The Access Reference Group established for the development of the plan, will be referred to for advice on the progress of the plan.

Decisions on this action will be directed to the Disability Action Plan governance: DPOs and Senior Officials Group, and the DPOs and Chief Executives’ Group on Disability Issues.

This action is also responsible to governance arrangements for the Building Act and Building Code.

3 Contributors/partners with lead – who is involved in this action?

Developing the plan will proceed with direct reference to nominated representatives of The Association of Blind Citizens New Zealand, and Deaf Blind New Zealand. There is also an Access Reference Group with members representing the following organisations.

The Blind Foundation

CCS Disability Action

The Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand

Disabled People’s Assembly

Barrier Free New Zealand Trust

Invercargill City Council

Aged Concern

The Hearing Foundation

Acessible Options

Pynenburg and Collins Architects

The organisations listed above assisted the Office of Disability Issues and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in developing and drafting the scope of this action.

This action will be led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in partnership with the Office of Disability Issues. The organisations listed above will be involved in implementing this action. Also involved in implementing the action will be professional architecture, design and engineering institutions, building owners and managers institutions, building consenting authorities.

4 Reporting – key milestones/deliverables

The lead agency is responsible for reporting every three months to the Office for Disability Issues, as requested, on progress against milestones listed in this section.

5 Milestones

Develop draft outline for guidance on accessible public buildings - 31 August 2016

Implement plan to promote guide on accessible public buildings - 31 October 2016

Education programme for building owners and developers - 30 June 2017

Guidelines for building designers and officials - 30 June 2017

Upskill programme for building designers and officials - 30 September 2017

Strengthen enforcement of compliance - 31 March 2018

Strengthen regulatory system - 30 June 2018

6 Risks

What are the risk to progressing this action, and what mitigations will be put in place against those risks?

Risk: Delays in progressing some items of the programme through unavailability of suitable expertise. Mitigation: The programme is being progressed across multiple fronts so that resources can be reassigned to keep the overall programme on schedule.

Risk: Lack of cooperation from professional groups or consenting authorities. Mitigation: Wide consultation at the early stages for agreement and commitment.

Risk: Unavailability of media resources when scheduled. Mitigation: The programme will use a range of media to reduce the impact of one medium not being available for the programme

7 Impact – what are we trying to achieve?

The impact will be achievement of equitable access to and use of publicly accessible buildings by all New Zealanders

Measurement or evaluation of indicators.

Building owners and developers will have a clear understanding of the requirements of the Building Act as evidenced by their proposals for new building works and the management of their existing premises.

Building designers will submit Building Code compliant proposals for consent.

Consistent and informed building consenting on accessibility by building officials.

An effective regime for enforcement of Building Act requirements.

8 Evidence base

The programme of work is to address the findings of the review into the effectiveness of legislation for accessibility of public buildings which was jointly commissioned by the Office of Disability Issues (ODI) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in late 2013.

9 Related work

Designing for All – a disability awareness programme for designers. The Designing for All programme is supported by Think Differently, Ministry of Social Development; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Massey University.

Scope of action

Other initiatives

The impact of photographic identification requirements on people without common photo ID

The disability sector brought it to our attention that there are many disabled people, older people, people going through the corrections system and others, who do not have common forms of photographic identification (photo ID) such as a driver's licence or passport. This may be because a person is:

ineligible to apply for a driver's licence,

may have had their driver's licence revoked

may not wish to travel so a passport is expensive to only prove identity

may have a low income and cannot afford to pay for a passport.

We understand that not having these two commonly accepted photo IDs is a barrier for people to prove their identity to access services and places. For example, without photo ID people had experienced difficulties with opening a bank account, making a hire purchase or entering Work and Income offices. We also heard that often other IDs such as a HANZ 18+ card, a SuperGold card and a Community Services Cards are not always accepted.

You can read a summary report here titled "The impact of photographic identification requirements on people without common photographic documents"

A key driver for photo ID requirements is the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism regime

The Department of Internal Affairs and the Office for Disability Issues will be continuing to work on this issue through a number of actions

Short-term action

The Department of Internal Affairs increasing awareness about what can be used as photo ID through engagement with retailers, financial institutions and bankers etc.

Medium-term action

Exploring the opportunity to have a new photo ID which appeals to a wider range of people. The Department of Internal Affairs are engaging with the private sector about this including Hospitality NZ who issue the HANZ 18+ card.

Long-term action

Continuing to monitor whether the problem has been addressed by the private sector by December 2019 and if not, considering further action.